Snatched
by Gutterflower
Summary: Catherine is snatched. But by who and Why? First Fanfic please review.
1. Snatched

This is my first Fanfic so be gentle with me. I would love to hear any constructive criticism or any ideas that you have that could further my story or even if you just want to say well done ~hint hint~. This story is mainly about Catherine.  
  
Chapter 1.  
  
"What are you talking about Nicky, Sara could wipe the floor with you any day!" It was a hot balmy evening in Las Vegas and as the CSI team were winding their way down for the evening a hot topic of debate had sparked off nearly an hours worth of fun in the break room.  
  
"She so could not!" Nick gave Catherine a look of mock defensiveness.  
  
"You know I could Nicky," Sara said stepping up close to him, "Just let me try." She winked at him flirtatiously and suddenly the temperature in the room rose significantly.  
  
"What do you think Grissom?" Nick asked, hoping that a man's point of view would shut up these ludicrous ideas.  
  
"I think you should be finishing off that pile of paperwork on your desk." He stated blandly.  
  
"Oh but Grissom." Nick whined like a petulant child and Grissom knew exactly how to deal with him.  
  
"Work or don't get paid. Simple really."  
  
Nick started to saunter away. Under his breath he murmured, "Party pooper."  
  
"I've finished all my work." Warrick added smugly onto Nick's departure. He stretched out in his leather recliner like a Cheshire cat, shrugging away the day's hard work. "And I think that Nick could win in a match between him and Sara any day. You just let me train him first." He said modestly on to the previous statement.  
  
BEEP.  
  
"Grrr why don't these beepers ever shut up!?" Catherine exclaimed obviously annoyed at the intrusion into the friendly banter. "I'll be back," She murmured to no one in particular on her way out of the break room door.  
  
*~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *  
  
On the phone.  
  
"Alright, I'll make my way home now, I'll just ask my boss if I can make up the hours another time. Ok I'll see you soon Susie."  
  
Clicking the pay phone back onto its greasy receiver she said to herself, "Damn babysitter."  
  
"Why?" Unaware of Grissom's presence she jumped slightly.  
  
"Oh Lindsay's running a fever and it hasn't come down in the past 2 hours. You would have thought she'd have rung me earlier!" Catherine spat out obviously annoyed at the babysitter's actions.  
  
"It's ok by the way you can make up the hours another time."  
  
"Do you always eavesdrop?"  
  
"Only when I need to. Go home take care of Lindsay. It's not like we're rushed off our feet is it!" Grissom smiled at the blond and nodded his head towards the break room door. "Go get your things and get yourself out of here!"  
  
"Thanks Grissom, I owe you one."  
  
"It's no problem honestly."  
  
Tapping him lightly on the shoulder as a way of saying thank you, she followed his instructions and returned back to the break room.  
  
"What's wrong Catherine?" Sara and Warrick almost said in unison.  
  
"It's the stupid babysitter. Lindsay's been running a fever for over 2 hours apparently and she didn't think to call me sooner. It's true you know. You really can't get the staff these days." Although the mask she wore portrayed something very different, her co-workers could see the blatant worry displayed on her face for her daughter. She meant the world to Catherine.  
  
"Do you want me to walk you to your car?" Warrick asked.  
  
"And who said chivalry was dead?" Smiling she added. "No honestly it's ok I'll be fine. See you tomorrow guys."  
  
Picking up her case and her shades from the table she made her way out of the stuffy building. With a quick wave goodbye to Nick and Greg she finally made her way out of the CSI HQ and started on the journey home to her daughter. Placing her shades over her eyes to protect her from the last dazzling rays of the day she searched for her keys in her jacket pocket. Finally retrieving the desired objects with a satisfactory chink of the keys she opened the trunk to place her case inside. Finishing this task she closed the trunk and moved swiftly around to open the door and sat down on the driver's seat.  
  
Resting her head lightly against the wheel she massaged her temples lightly trying to rid herself of some of the thumping headache she'd had for most of the day. Rotating her head around to try and relieve some of the tightness in her neck, she rested her head slowly back on to the headboard. Letting loose a defeated sigh she closed her eyes momentarily.  
  
She felt the hand clasp over her mouth before she even had the time to scream. The cloth that was in the assailant's hand told her she was being drugged and although she tried to fight it, mercilessly the drug took her under its spell and she fell unconscious. The attacker pulled her slowly onto the back seat not caring about the bumps and bruises she was attaining on the way. Facing her down on the seat he tied her hands behind her back and separately tied her feet together. Flipping her back over with an effortless manoeuvre he stuck the duck tape over her mouth with silent satisfaction.  
  
It felt so good to be getting revenge, he thought. Rolling her off the back seat and onto the floor he clambered over into the drivers seat. Turning the keys in the ignition he sped away, not caring if anyone saw him. Retrieving his shades from their resting place on top of his head and replacing them over his eyes once more he smiled to himself. Opening the window he felt sickeningly contented with the warm breeze that swam around inside the car.  
  
His conscience was clear. This was indeed an act of revenge and he would do anything to get that.  
  
Anything.  
  
Please if you could review as it would mean a lot to me. Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed it! 


	2. Panic

Firstly, Thank you so much for the reviews. I only expected about 5! 14 is completely astounding! Secondly, Sorry it's taken me a while to write this chapter I've been snowed under with schoolwork.  
  
Chapter 2.  
  
Slowly placing the finished file on top of the tray marked 'out' Grissom heaved a huge sigh of relief. He stared at the daunting pile of paperwork and smiled with satisfaction that he'd finally managed to finish it, albeit now 11 o'clock at night. He also smirked at the fact he'd sent Nick off to finish his own paperwork earlier and from his deductions Nick was still snowed under with it. He rested his head back against the back of his leather recliner and closed his eyes contentedly. If truth be told he'd nearly fallen asleep in this chair many a time before whilst running a difficult case.  
  
RING  
  
Damn modern technology, he thought to himself. At first he tried to ignore the incessant, monotonous ring of his telephone but in the end he reluctantly reached over to it and placed the receiver to his ear.  
  
"Grissom,"  
  
"Hello Mr. Grissom I was just wondering what time Catherine would be off work."  
  
"What do you mean? She left here hours ago."  
  
"Well she hasn't come home yet and Lindsay's getting worse." Grissom could sense the sitters obvious annoyance at unreliable parents however Grissom's gut started to get that particular feeling again when something wasn't quite right.  
  
"Have you tried her cell?"  
  
"Numerous times."  
  
"Then where is she?" Grissom wondered aloud.  
  
"I don't know but I'm not paid for this. I really have to be somewhere else." The babysitter was growing more and more impatient by the minute and Grissom couldn't help but feel annoyed that she didn't care where her employer was.  
  
"Well my shift has just finished. I'll be round to look after Lindsay in about half an hour. Wait for me to get there then you can leave." Concerned for his colleague's welfare, he drummed his fingers distractedly on the desk. Replacing the receiver on to its stand he sank further into his chair. He'd get one of the guys on it.  
  
"Warrick!" he yelled from his office too tired to get up. Seconds later Warrick padded into his office looking just as worn out as Grissom felt.  
  
"We've got a problem."  
  
"What's wrong? Please don't tell me another case has arrived."  
  
"No, it's worse than that."  
  
"Then what?  
  
"Well, I just had Lindsay's babysitter on the phone. Catherine hasn't been home."  
  
"But she left here hours ago." Warrick could see the pieces of the puzzle starting to form and he hated what he was seeing.  
  
"Get everybody in here. We'll try her cell, we'll get a uniform to do her route home check she hasn't broken down, then after that, assuming we haven't found her, we'll worry."  
  
Warrick did as he was told and went about trying to round up the rest of the team. All assembled in Grissom's office 20 minutes later, all their faces displayed panic. They knew Catherine, if she'd broken down she would have rung one of them to give her a lift, she loved Lindsay to bits and nothing would stop her getting to her child. Numerous calls to her cell went unanswered and awaiting the report of the uniform doing her route home they all began to think the worst.  
  
The chirpy ring of the telephone made everyone jump out of their thoughts and come back to reality where they were all sat haphazardly on one of Grissom's leather sofas. They listened intently to one half of the conversation and Grissom watched their faces fall as he tried to give instructions to the officer.  
  
Hanging up eventually he relayed the new information to his colleagues. "We've now officially got a problem, Catherine still hasn't turned up home and I really need to get to Catherine's house before the babysitter goes AWOL. I'll phone you when I get there." Picking up his jacket he left them all in his office. Whilst on his way out of the building and finally out of earshot of the others he retrieved his cell out of his pocket. Dialling the number carefully, he waited for someone to pick up on the receiving end.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Yeah Brass, it's me, Grissom. We've got a problem."  
  
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Grissom reached Catherine's house quickly knowing how mad the babysitter was going to be. However, on reaching the house he found the word 'mad' to be the understatement of the century. She was irate.  
  
"Where the hell have you been?" she spat out at him. Finally losing his patience with the self absorbed teenager he snapped.  
  
"If you cared about your employer then you might be worrying where she is right now not about your stupid boyfriend who you've probably got to get to. Now sit down and shut up or I'm going to waste even more of your time." Backing down to the older man's authority she retreated back onto the couch and sank into the comfort of it.  
  
"So has she had an accident or something?"  
  
"No," Grissom replied trying to calm himself, "She hasn't as far as we know. She's missing, not that you'd care of course. Anyway, there's more important things right now than relaying the whole story to you, where's Lindsay?"  
  
The teenager pointed upstairs half shocked at the severity at the older man's words and half stunned at the revelation Grissom had just told her. Grissom knowing the house well found his way to Lindsay's bedroom quickly. He saw the 7 year old sleeping soundly in her bed, her face flushed and her eyes seemingly swollen; Grissom decided this was probably a result of earlier tears. Putting a hand to her forehead he could feel she was still burning up. Not having a paternal instinct he couldn't decide what to do but decided on going to the hospital. Even if it wasn't serious it was better to be safe than sorry. Gently stroking Lindsay's face, she woke up and stared wide eyed at Grissom.  
  
"Grissom I don't feel well." Her bottom lip began to quiver and Grissom picked her up out of the bed and into his arms. Stroking her back lightly trying to soothe her he made his way downstairs still holding her in his strong arms.  
  
"Can you call a ..?" Grissom's sentence tailed off, the babysitter had gone. On further exploration of the ground floor of the house he found himself to be alone with Lindsay. For a split second he thought about how strange this was and then shook his head free of the grasp of these thoughts. Lindsay needed a doctor and in the absence of her mother, he was the one who had to help her.  
  
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Sara had received the call from Grissom minutes previously and in this time she had pulled some form of rank and decided how they were going to tackle this. Brass had come in to help Warrick with figuring out where Catherine had gone and Nick and Sara were going to the hospital. Greg was fighting to get the rest of his cases out of the way to make sure he'd be ready for this one. All going their separate ways they all tried to focus on the task in hand. Trying, and failing to distance themselves they all succumbed to the inevitable and started to panic.  
  
Sara and Nick went down to the Car park and got into Nick's SUV. Speeding all the way to the hospital, the short journey passed in an uncomfortable silence. They hadn't been alone in a couple of days and that last time had been filled with confusion and a tangled web of mixed signals. They both knew they needed to talk about the other night but not now. It felt wrong and inappropriate to do this when their friend was missing and their boss had just rushed her daughter to hospital. But they both knew it was coming. sooner than either of them could have expected.  
  
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After rushing into the waiting room, they found Grissom with his head in his hands. Staring at Nick anxiously expecting the worst, Sara nudged Nick closer to Grissom in a silent command. Following her orders, he stepped forward and crouched down next to Grissom.  
  
"Hey Gris, what's wrong?" Grissom didn't jump at the words, he'd felt he presence of his colleagues before he even looked up. He turned to face the young Texan whose face was wracked with concern.  
  
"It's Lindsay. She's got scarlet fever. Luckily, or unluckily depending on how you look at it, we found it early so the doctors can treat it much quicker. She should be out in a couple of days, God willing."  
  
Nick was taken aback. Grissom had never used that expression before. He must be really feeling it if he was coming out of his strictly atheist stance. Nick placed a hand over one of Grissom's and let the gesture speak for itself. Grissom could read the subtext, Nick knew he didn't need to explain.  
  
Sara slowly made her way over from the door and tried to look natural about the way she avoided sitting next to Nick. She chastised herself for thinking she could hide from Grissom. He knew everything about her, surely he wouldn't miss this. Shaking her head lightly to rid the thoughts she turned her attentions once more to Grissom. Gently, she said, "Gris, we need you back at the lab. We've got Brass and Warrick working on the car park where Catherine's SUV was to see if we can get anything from that. We've got Greg clearing his schedule and although I did a good job of pulling rank," she stopped and smiled at her boss then continued, "I think everyone would much prefer it if you got back to being the boss again, including Catherine."  
  
He knew she was right. Rubbing the heels of his palms into his eyes to try and eradicate some of the tiredness he felt, he spoke gently, "We have to find her, for Lindsay's sake."  
  
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The journey back to the lab was just as uncomfortable as the earlier one to the hospital had been between Nick and Sara, however now Grissom had been added to the equation the effort had to be made. Checking the rear view mirror to make sure Grissom wasn't looking Nick mouthed to Sara, "We need to talk." Mouthing back "I know." She turned her attentions to pretend she was staring out of the window. In actual fact she was lost deep in thought.  
  
On arrival back at the lab serious progress had been made. Warrick and Brass had found an earring on the floor in the car lot. However, unless Catherine wore skull and crossbones earrings then it was a safe bet it belonged to her kidnapper. Greg had worked his ass off to make sure that his schedule was free for the work he knew he'd be getting within the next couple of hours. Using his initiative, he took the earring for DNA testing before Grissom had even thought to ask and rushed the results. Logging the newly found data into his computer system he concentrated hard on the screen as AFIS worked on finding the kidnapper. Rubbing his temples trying to ease a headache that was forming he jumped at the beep the computer made. A match had been found. but who? Greg stared at the screen his eyes open wide with shock. This case was not looking good so far. Pressing the print button he collected the paper from the tray and rushed to try and find Grissom.  
  
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Brass felt the vibration in his pocket and identified this as his phone. Picking it swiftly out of his pocket he answered it in a flourish.  
  
"Brass."  
  
"Hello, this is Officer Trentham. We've just found an abandoned SUV out on one of the roads out of town. I thought it best to call you due to your earlier request that if we found such information we should report it to you."  
  
Brass winced at the boy's formality. He could tell he was a new kid on the block. "Ok where exactly?"  
  
"Well you see that's what I needed to tell you. A tow company came to pick it up after it was reported and."  
  
"Is there a point to this son?" Brass snapped and immediately apologised.  
  
"Sorry sir. Yes the point is that the inside of the SUV is almost completely covered in blood. It's not good sir. The tow company are already bringing it to the lab so that you can investigate."  
  
"Thank you son. Good work." He hoped this made up for his earlier irritation with the young lad and hung up. He needed to tell Grissom the good and the bad news. A thought instantly popped into his head, "Why am I always the bearer of bad news?" Willing himself to try and think of how exactly to phrase this he decided honesty was indeed the best policy. Making his way to Grissom's office he banged right into Greg who looked like he'd just been running a marathon. They both said in unison, "I've got news." Opening the door, Brass motioned for Greg to go in before him. This was going to be a long night, or rather morning as Brass fixed his gaze wearily on his watch finding the time to be 4AM.  
  
  
  
Please R&R. 


	3. Satisfaction

Thank you once again for the reviews I'm really chuffed that you like my writing! Lets hope this chapter doesn't disappoint. Chapter 3.  
  
Chapter 3.  
  
"Yes Greg?" Grissom looked quizzically at the young lab tech hoping that the young man's running efforts, displayed by the boy's heavy breathing and red face, were about to pay off.  
  
"I. have .News." Greg proclaimed between breaths.  
  
"Greg what have you been doing?"  
  
"Looking for you!"  
  
"Well I was right here!"  
  
"You think?" The lab tech replied sarcastically.  
  
"So what's the news? Have we got a lead?"  
  
"We've got more than that. I found out who our kidnapper is and trust me your not going to believe who it is."  
  
Grissom stared wide-eyed at Greg and finally appreciating he'd captured the attention of the two peers he had beside him, Greg continued. "Eddie."  
  
"You're joking?" Grissom exploded.  
  
"I wish I was. I tried to find a match in AFIS just as normal and his name popped up."  
  
"But why? He shouldn't be on AFIS should he?" Grissom's mind suddenly clouded with confusion.  
  
"That's what I thought so I checked up on him. It's really not good news Grissom."  
  
"What has he done exactly?" Grissom braced himself for the news whilst glancing quickly at Brass who remained quiet in one of the leather armchairs. Something told Grissom his news wasn't going to be good either.  
  
"Attempted sexual assault."  
  
Grissom let his head fall into his hands and rested his elbows on the table to steady himself. They needed to find Catherine and the sooner the better before that monster could do anything to her.  
  
"Brass what's your news?"  
  
"I just had a call from a uniform. They've recovered an SUV and the interior is nearly completely covered in blood. The local tow company are bringing it here now." Once again Grissom let his head fall into his hands and rubbed his temples gently. Where are you Catherine?  
  
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Just as Warrick left the changing rooms Nick entered, a determined look on his face. Warrick too submerged in his own thinking ignored the look and continued his way out of the locker rooms. It was his job to meet the guy from the tow company bringing over Catherine's SUV he didn't want to miss it, he owed Catherine that. Nick wandered over to where Sara was seated next to her locker and plonked himself down next to her.  
  
"If I didn't know you any better I'd say you were avoiding me." Nick tried to make light of their situation but no matter how hard he tried it still felt awkward.  
  
"I am avoiding you." Sara hoisted herself up form the bench and moved closer to her locker. She hadn't intended her words to be harsh and yet she couldn't help but refrain from letting them sting Nick.  
  
"Well can we at least talk about the other night?"  
  
"There's nothing left to say. At work I'll play along with how we used to be but that's all it is, it's a pretence Nick. I don't want anything else from you and in return don't ever expect anything from me."  
  
"Well at least let me explain before you jump to conclusions!" Nick protested letting his voice rise considerably.  
  
"Go for it." Sara turned around and folded her arms over her chest. "I'm dying to hear why you don't want to sleep with me."  
  
"Is that what this is all about? Just because I wouldn't jump into bed with you at the first chance I got? I thought you knew me better than that Sara."  
  
"Well, What did I do wrong? I mean you were kissing me and then you basically threw me out of your house! From that I would say it's blatantly obvious that you're not interested!"  
  
"I. I."  
  
"Well Nick spit it out."  
  
"I don't have to justify myself to you Sara. I'm sorry if I hurt you but do you know what? Think what you want to because if you don't understand this then you won't understand my reasoning for not sleeping with you." At this he turned on his heels and stomped out of the door. The rejection and the conflicting emotions of the last few minutes flooded over Sara. Throwing her hairbrush back into her locker she settled back down on the bench and began to cry.  
  
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"Mr. Briggs I assume?" Warrick offered a hand to the elderly man from the tow company and in return the man shook it.  
  
"You assume correctly. And you are?"  
  
"I'm Warrick Brown," Retrieving his hand he now took the clipboard and forms that Mr. Briggs was offering forward to him.  
  
"Could you sign at the bottom please Mr. Brown unfortunately I've got quite a few jobs tonight."  
  
"You work nights?" Warrick's curiosity got the better of him. "Yeah Las Vegas is the City that never sleeps and so neither does the tow company." Warrick smiled at the friendliness of the older man and signed the form. Turning to face the SUV which up until now he'd avoided he drew in a sharp intake of air. He could see from 20 metres away that the description of the interior of the SUV had been no exaggeration. Suddenly Warrick's heart fell. No one could survive losing that much blood, if it was all Catherine's then she was dead, there was no two ways about it.  
  
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Greg was checking his results for the fourth time on Grissom's orders and was unsurprised to find the same result kept churning out over and over again. Eddie. What did he want with Catherine? Greg couldn't believe the stupidity of his own question. It was obvious what Eddie wanted. Revenge. And you didn't have to be a CSI to figure that one out. After running the test for the fourth time Greg stopped. He knew the results weren't going to be any different and that this was an inefficient use of his time. Catherine's SUV had come in and Warrick was probably working on it now. Greg decided to go down and offer his services after all every little helps. He hoped that Eddie was as dumb as he looked and had left enough evidence behind to lead them to Catherine. If not, it was back to square one.  
  
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She woke up in the dark room, groggy and deceptively alone. The darkness held the figure of her kidnapper but still suffering from the affects of the earlier drug she had been subjected to Catherine was unaware of this fact. The only light that projected into the room was that of an overhead skylight which, conveniently had been covered with a dark sheet. She was lying on the floor her arms and legs tied together and her mind unable to process where she was or what she was doing here.  
  
She wanted to yell out for help but found herself to be gagged. Her mouth she deduced had been covered earlier with tape as the skin around her mouth stung. She tried to get up from the floor but found that her limbs wouldn't work and further concluded this was due to the earlier drugging. She felt weak and weary and desperately wanted to fall asleep but knew this was a bad idea. She needed to figure out where she was and find someway of getting out of here. Wriggling around trying to free her hands she heard footsteps. Suddenly her heart stopped and her breathing ceased. Every muscle stopped moving.  
  
Unexpectedly, someone grabbed her head from behind and brought it up from the floor. Now facing towards what she presumed was the ceiling she saw the silhouette through the darkness. "Hello Catherine." The whisper made her nauseous and immediately she recognised the voice. She mumbled his name into her gag but it prevented her from releasing his name into the tense atmosphere. Suddenly her captor rolled her over onto her back and straddled over her. Undoing her shirt buttons with aggression she tried to resist but knew how helpless she was. Still she continued to fight until he hit her over the head with something. Feeling the white hot pain spread through her temple and then course down her neck, she passed out.  
  
Satisfied with just scaring her for now he got up off the floor and retreated to his watching place on a chair placed in the corner of the room out of sight, lost in the shadows. He smirked to himself. No one would find them here, not even her CSI buddies. Suddenly, angry at the thought of her colleagues he moved back over to the listless body of his ex-wife on the floor.  
  
Taking a flashlight out from his pocket he flicked on the tunnel of light. Focusing the beam on her head he noticed she was bleeding heavily. Once again he kneeled down over her and ripped her shirt open and undid her trousers. He didn't have to do anything his contentment rested on the fact she'd think he had. Flicking the light off and returning it to his pocket he found his way back over to his chair. Lighting a cigarette he puffed lightly and stared obsessively at Catherine. He was going to enjoy every single second of making her suffer and he knew her friends back at the lab could do nothing to help her.  
  
TBC. 


	4. One step closer

Thank you for the reviews, you guys are so nice to me! You've all asked for another chapter so especially for you here it is.  
  
Chapter 4.  
  
She felt the hand stroking her face and at first relished the touch thinking that the hands belonged to the kind, compassionate man she loved. Instead the rough skin gave away the callous heart of her captor and immediately she broke away from his touch. Catherine's hair felt matted onto her porcelain face as her features contorted into a look of terror at the realisation that the matting was caused by blood, her own.  
  
Eddie moved closer to her once again and resumed his torture. It may be gentle by his standards, by anyone's standards, but to Catherine it was mental and physical torture to have this monster within five miles of her. If she could have she would have spat at him and if she could have rolled away she would have but the enormous pain in her head rendered her motionless and she hated the fact she was at Eddie's mercy.  
  
"How is my lovely wife feeling this morning?" Eddie whispered into her shell-like ear. As he spoke he released her of her gag and replaced it with his hand. "There's really no point in screaming no one will ever find you hear, not even rats. So instead of shouting, just talk to me."  
  
"I am not your wife Eddie."  
  
"Well that's a start I suppose." Catherine was perplexed at how funny Eddie seemed to be finding all of this. He was sick.  
  
"You don't want to do this Eddie."  
  
He laughed at the woman he was now straddled over. "I think you'll find I do."  
  
"But why?" Catherine reckoned if she could keep him talking then he couldn't hurt her. It was a plan albeit not a great one.  
  
"Well it's a mixture of things really. It's like the song, 'I love you then I hate you,' it's just really that strange. You stopped me from seeing my daughter. You put me through hell when you divorced me making me out to be the bad guy when I so obviously wasn't."  
  
"What?!" Catherine interjected. "You were the bad guy Eddie and you still are."  
  
"What makes you think that?" He retorted. "All I ever wanted was to make you happy but that's impossible unless your name is Gil Grissom. Gil this Gil that. that's all I ever heard! I knew you were having an affair with him. I knew that's why you'd hurt yourself so that you could running to him and pretend I was the bad guy."  
  
"Eddie, You beat me! You were a woman beater. You tried to assault me so many times I lost count. I could have you put away for life on the crimes you did and I didn't want you near MY daughter. I wasn't having an affair but I damn well wish I had been now if it would have got me away from you any quicker." She couldn't help it. The hell he'd given her for years suddenly had been erased from his mind and she wanted to help him regain his convenient memory.  
  
He swiftly grabbed her by the hair and pulled her head away from the cement floor. "Is that right?" letting her head drop to the floor with a resounding thud she screamed out in agony as he laughed with delight. "Don't think I won't hurt you Catherine because I will and I think you'll find I already have." He said the last bit emphasising his words like he was talking to a small child. Catherine stopped crying momentarily to try and figure out what Eddie meant and gingerly lifted her head up. Her shirt buttons were all undone and her trousers were ripped. He couldn't have. Could he? Her blood ran cold with the thought of the power he could have had over her body when she wasn't able to fight.  
  
"You didn't?" She cried out.  
  
"What do you think?"  
  
"You've done it before what would stop you from doing it again?!" She yelled.  
  
"Calm down Catherine calm down otherwise I may just have to shut you up and I'm sure you wouldn't want that."  
  
"Just kill me." she whispered unaware Eddie could hear her.  
  
"All in good time." He replied as she shrunk into the foetal position trying to nurse the heightened throbbing pain in her head. Feeling nauseous with the pain she couldn't help but let the content of her stomach overflow onto the floor. Wiping her mouth on her shoulder, she tried to resume her composure but lost herself in the depths of unconsciousness once again.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Warrick finished processing the SUV and wiped his eyes with the alien tear that had rolled down his cheek. He hardly ever cried, he only ever remembered crying twice in his life but he couldn't help it. Catherine meant a lot to him. She was more than a friend, she understood him and he understood her. It was silent pact that only came into action at times. well at times like these.  
  
He'd taken several lots of different swabs of the vehicle as protocol and had slowly come to the conclusion that Catherine couldn't be alive, not if the amount of blood in here was anything to go by. Clearing up his work, he turned off all the lights on the car and closed the doors. It felt wrong to leave her car open to all and sundry even if she wasn't here to rant and rave about it. It felt intrusive just even being here looking through her private things but it had to be done and no matter how hard he tried he couldn't stop thinking about the worst case scenario, hoping, but giving into the fact that it could soon become reality. Removing his latex gloves carefully he packed all the bagged evidence into one huge manila envelope and wrote 'Greg Urgent process NOW' on the front. As he dropped the envelope off in the young lab techs office he felt like he was letting go of Catherine not just an envelope.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Grissom remained silent in his office with only the company of Brass to keep his thoughts logical. Brass on the other hand was talking a mile a minute trying to keep his, and the teams, spirits up. It was proving to be a hard task for the pessimist. If he didn't believe deep down that they were going to find her then how could he convince the team otherwise. He realised the Grissom wasn't even listening to him and stopped talking.  
  
The man before him was a shadow of what he had been early in the day. The lines on his face somehow seemed etched further into his contours and his hair appeared to have become greyer than before. He'd aged considerable since 4AM when he'd first heard the two consecutive bombshells and Brass couldn't blame him for being upset. The chances of finding her were slim looking at the evidence and Brass suddenly rued the day he'd decided to be a policeman. He hated cases like these because they were so vicious, so unnecessary but he hated this case even more because a very special woman was involved. She'd stuck up for him when he'd been threatened with the cut form the CSI unit and even though the end of his supervisor role had come to an end and Grissom had received his job, and pay packet, he would never forget the help Catherine had given him. Now he needed to help her. The question was how and as of yet the worried policeman didn't have an answer.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Greg returned to his lab after his long walk. He'd wanted to go down and help Warrick with Catherine's car but he couldn't face it. So he'd decided to go for a long walk but this routine of clearing his mind, which, had had a 100% success rate, now failed to achieve its goal. Sinking back into his swivel office chair he noticed the manila envelope with the urgent looking red writing on it. Recognising the writing as Warrick's he realised this was the evidence from the SUV and grabbing a pair of latex gloves and putting them on, he tore open the envelope. Blood, hair and miscellaneous samples cascaded onto the desk in a waterfall of protocol search evidence and instead of his heart falling his heart rose with the fact he was helping the cause and he set about trying to help even further.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Sara had been trying to find Nick all morning but he was proving to be harder to find than Jack the Ripper. He was illusive and no one had seen him since their fight in the locker rooms. She was beginning to lose hope of finding him until she saw a swish of white sweep across a gap in the corridor. Hoping it would be one of Nick's white t-shirts she ran after it. Closing in on the object of her pursuit around the building she practically knocked him over with the force of the intended tap on his shoulder.  
  
Spinning around on his heels, Nick turned to face Sara. She'd been crying, her eyes were swollen and her cheeks were flushed and Nick couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt flow through every inch of him. Clutching his files closer to his chest in a defence mechanism he said, "What?"  
  
"Nick don't be like that. I need to say something and I don't want you to say anything until I'm done."  
  
"Well there's a turn up for the books isn't it?" Turning back around he let an exasperated gasp escape his muscular frame.  
  
"I'm sorry." She said before he started to walk away from her. "I never meant to hurt you, the thing is I think I'm falling for you. Well I know I'm falling for you. I have been ever since the first time I saw you. I know I act like a complete idiot around you and that I can be hostile and nasty towards you and I rarely say something that isn't sarcastic, but I mean this. I really do."  
  
Turning around once again to face her, he looked intently in her eyes. They said eyes were the window to the soul and he could always tell when someone was lying. But she wasn't. Her eyes were moist with tears now threatening to fall and stain her beautiful features. He couldn't resist her no matter how hard he tried. She was the tonic to all the years of hurt and he needed to find a cure for all of that. If she was it then he didn't want to let it go away.  
  
"I just didn't understand why you didn't want to sleep with me." She continued. "I thought it was me. I'll understand if you don't want to sleep with me because of my past." She tailed off and Nick became both worried and confused simultaneously.  
  
"Your past?" He asked.  
  
"Yeah Grissom must have told you, I overheard you talking about me the other night and saying that 'I must've been taking the case hard' about the Adler case."  
  
"We only said that because of the fact Grissom said you weren't feeling well. He didn't tell me anything about your past."  
  
"Oh." she flushed. "I've got to go." She started to briskly pace away from him and he caught up with her in a couple of strides.  
  
"No way. You're not coming all this way and then disappearing on me. Tell me what's wrong."  
  
"I can't. I should never have said anything."  
  
"Yes you should have. Now come on." He motioned his hand in the direction of the locker room and pushed the door open for her. Checking that the coast was all clear they went in and sat down.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
He'd rushed his tests but Greg knew the results were accurate. Not only were they accurate they were an enormous ray of hope. He felt like jumping around for joy but contained his emotions. Instead he said a silent prayer. Printing off the results he impatiently waited for them to fall into the tray. Drumming his fingers on the desk he grabbed the printouts when they fell into the tray. Feeling the warmth of the paper he felt proud that he was the one to have the 'hot' lead on this case and he hoped that with this discovery they were that much closer to Catherine. Running out of the lab he went in search of his teammates. They had a right to know altogether and he was determined to find them all. Including Catherine.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Trying to make light of the situation Sara said, "We seem to be spending a lot of time in here lately." Letting a little laugh escape he resumed his composure via a serious face and nodded. She took this as a sign to begin talking and smiled at him.  
  
"Ok. When I was younger I had a lot of problems growing up. My parents were never home and when they were they argued incessantly. They never stopped. They never cared where I was so I used to hang out a lot with a gang I knew from school. To cut a long story short I got into a lot of trouble and what went around came around." She stopped and looked won to her clasped hands resting on her lap.  
  
"Oh no, you're not getting out of it that easily. Tell me."  
  
"This really isn't the time. Not with Catherine missing."  
  
"I know it's not but if you're not happy then it's going to affect your work and so I need to know how to make it better."  
  
"You can't." She sighed.  
  
"Why can't I?" Nick asked gently trying to coax her sadness out of her.  
  
"Because you weren't the one who hurt me."  
  
"Who was?"  
  
"Jimmy Kane. Part of the gang I hung with. One night he was off his face on booze and pills and took it out on me. That's why the Pamela Adler case struck way too close to home."  
  
Clasping her into a huge bear hug he tried to squeeze away her pain. He knew what she was going through but this wasn't the time to share that. Relaxing into each other's arms they began to feel close, closer than they should have done under the circumstances. Letting his head rise from her shoulder he kissed the top of her head and moved his lips slowly down to hers. This silent but emotion packed kiss told her that her past meant nothing to him. He liked her exactly the way she was, but it also made sure that she knew he was sorry for everything.  
  
Their tongues circled around in a rhythm that seemed well practiced but was newly found. They were both relishing the kiss until.  
  
BANG.  
  
They broke away from the kiss abruptly as Greg threw open the door. Not noticing the romantic embrace that they had just been in he panted out, "I have news." Experiencing the weird feeling of dèja vu at saying those exact same words within the past few hours he smiled.  
  
"Good or bad?" Nick asked dreading the worst.  
  
"Get off your ass the both of you and come to Grissom's office and you'll find out. Some one page Warrick quickly and get him to Grissom's office as well."  
  
All Gathered in Gil's office 10 minutes later each member looked weary and disheartened. None of them knew what great news Greg had and he felt slightly guilty and yet momentarily superior for having this news as his own little secret. Finally reaching the end of his tether Grissom boomed, "What's the news Greg?" After keeping them waiting for 10 minutes he hoped this was good, to be honest Greg was starting to irritate him with his theatrical antics and he wished that the young man would just get on with it instead of wasting valuable time.  
  
"You shout at me I won't tell you." Greg retorted unfazed by the older man's obvious annoyance. "My news is extremely good. The blood in the car......... Hardly any of its Catherine's. The car is saturated in someone else's blood. I've run the results through AFIS and haven't had a match yet but I've passed the information onto Mobley and he's already putting on a complete investigation into any recent missing persons claims that have been filed."  
  
Astounded at both the news and the way that Greg had dealt with the news, Grissom for once found himself speechless. He couldn't believe the maturity and the intelligence of the young lab tech and immediately chastised himself for shouting at him earlier. The room heaved a sigh of relief as the news sunk in. They still had a murder on their hands but it wasn't Catherine's. They were that one step closer........ or at least that's what they all thought. They were all very wrong.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Eddie watched as his ex-wife lay listless on the cement floor of the makeshift prison. He smiled at the light that flooded into the room as a door at the far end of the large expanse of the room, opened. He pushed himself up from the chair he'd been seated on and made his way over to the delicate, young teenager that had entered the room.  
  
"What took you so long?" He demanded whilst taking his lover into his arms and caressing her neck softly whilst soft moans escaped her lips.  
  
"Well I would have been here a lot quicker if I hadn't been held up. You know a babysitters work is never done." She smiled at her own sarcasm and kissed the older man on the lips. "I made sure that I left no tracks, no one could find me."  
  
"Don't be so sure of that but anyway I'm glad you're here at long last. I've missed you." Leading her away from the door, shutting it softly behind him, he led her over to his chair in the opposite corner of the room. She looked at the still form of her employer and then back to her lover.  
  
"You started the fun without me," she stated as she noticed the blood seeping from a head wound.  
  
"Well. what can I say I couldn't resist it." He kissed her ferociously the passion between them not lessened by the presence of his unconscious ex- wife on the floor. Pulling away from her reluctantly he continued to talk, "I have to make the all important phone call. We're nearly home and dry gorgeous." Letting go of him long enough for him to get his cell out of pocket, the young teenager lit up a cigarette and offered her partner, in love and crime, a drag. Whilst pressing the cell next to his ear and waiting for a response he took a drag of the cigarette and relished it. Eventually the familiar voice of Gil Grissom picked up the receiver. "Hello?"  
  
"Hello Gil." Eddie's voice was masked with a coder. One of the many tricks of the trade he'd learnt from his ex-wife's line of work.  
  
"Who is this?" He heard the man rasp out.  
  
"That," he emphasised, "Does not matter. What does matter is that I have your precious Catherine and if you want her back safely then you're going to have to do a couple of things."  
  
"No conditions Eddie." Grissom was cool, calm and collected and Brass was rushing round for a taping device. Grissom needed to keep him talking for as long as possible.  
  
"There will be conditions or there will be a price to pay. And I think you'll find that the price is way to high for you to afford to mess with me."  
  
Signalling that he'd finally found a device to tape Eddie with Brass handed over the mini recorder to Grissom who in turn held it next to the receiver. "So what are the conditions Eddie?"  
  
"I want money. I also want a little confession just for a laugh."  
  
"Where do you think the money's going to come from exactly? And a confession of what?"  
  
"The money can come from anywhere but a later phone call from myself will give you a better idea of that. Details, details, details. That's always been your weakness hasn't it Gil? The only detail you missed was that Catherine was married when you had your affair. And that's what I want a confession of. Admit it. Go on make my day." Grissom listened to the sick amusement of the man on the end of the line.  
  
"We weren't having an affair."  
  
"Fine you have it your way Grissom."  
  
BANG.  
  
Grissom heard the shot as clear as a bell even though the receiver must have muffled the sound. He let a breath catch in his throat as he heard a woman scream and assumed was Catherine.  
  
"You made me do that Grissom. It's all your fault. And your going to have to live with that now aren't you?" The phone went dead on the other end and the tone began to ring loudly in Grissom's ears. It began to take over his thoughts and he found himself blacking out and landing awkwardly on the floor. His last thought being, 'I've killed Catherine.'  
TBC. 


	5. A shot in the dark

Thank you once again for the reviews on the last chapter. Sorry this chapter has taken so long but I've been bogged down with schoolwork. I promise chapter 6 won't take so long!!  
  
Chapter 5  
  
Waking to the slight breeze of Sara fanning paper over his face, Grissom found the world since recovering from fainting, seemed now lacklustre and monochrome. The shot still rang through his ears, reverberating around in his head stuck in an endless echo chamber. The voices of the team were muffled and he suddenly realised he must have hit his harder than he thought due to each member of the team having exact duplicates floating around. Shaking his head momentarily trying to get rid of the fuzziness he felt a bolt of pain shoot through his head. That was indeed confirmation that he needed some form of aid and Brass jumped at the chance to help out his friend. Sara knelt down at his left hand side and Warrick at his right simultaneously asked him how many fingers they were holding up. Squinting at them through his glasses he said, "I'm concussed not stupid."  
  
At first it didn't strike home what had just happened. Catherine was dead and it was all his fault. Surely if someone pinched him he'd come out of this awful nightmare and it would all be over. However, Grissom was in for a rude awakening. Grabbing the mini-recorder, Greg ran it across to the labs and got one of the techs to have a look at it. Something didn't quite fit and for the life of him he couldn't think what.  
  
~*~  
  
It had worked wonderfully. Everything had gone exactly as planned and now Grissom was probably passed out or throwing up somewhere. Eddie grinned at his own ingenuity. He'd shot the gun at the ceiling and his young teenage lover, babysitter for Catherine, yelled in supposed pain. Then he'd hung up and laughed so hard that he'd cried. He didn't think of himself as a cruel man he just wanted revenge, what was wrong with that?  
  
"Come on can we leave now Eddie this place is giving me the creeps!"  
  
"You can if you want." He answered non-committal.  
  
"Well the whole point of asking Eddie was because I wanted you to come with me." The 17-year-old blond stood with her hands on her hips, facial expression like thunder.  
  
"Don't be like that with me Jennie. You're here for a reason, if you don't like it I'm sure we could make an arrangement as to otherwise." Placing his hand over the gun holstered in the back of his jeans, Jennie backed off.  
  
"Ok. ok Eddie chill." She held up her hands in protest and shrunk back into her imaginary shell, scared of her older lover. "I was just saying." Her sentence trailed off as she looked at Eddie's face. She saw something there she'd never seen before. It was in his eyes, in every contour of his face. She saw the revenge that he craved and suddenly she felt nauseous. What was she doing here? She looked at the listless body on the floor and winced at the blood oozing from the woman's head. Even with her features an uncharacteristic porcelain, Catherine still looked every inch a model. Jennie swallowed hard and turned away and let a silent tear creep down her face. She'd been in on the act but she'd never wanted it to go this far. Eddie had promised her no one would be hurt more than they had to be. The shape Catherine was in she wasn't going to make it through the next couple of hours. or would she?  
  
~*~  
  
Seeing as Warrick, Nick, Sara and Grissom had all deserted him at the lab to visit Lindsay in the hospital and have Grissom's head checked over, Greg found himself working harder and faster than usual. He was a workaholic anyway; he just never got any credit for the amount of work he got through. But today he had been everywhere trying to do everyone else's jobs and he felt exhausted because of it. Making his way to the break room he made himself a black coffee with at least 3-heaped spoonfuls of coffee. Wincing at the taste and the heat combined he suddenly felt a vibration on his belt. His pager was vibrating which meant only one thing. There was news. It was Johnny the new sound tech in the lab opposite his own. Making his way there with his strong cup coffee and a sense of foreboding he went in search of the news and hoped it was good.  
  
Opening the door to his fellow lab tech's office his heart lifted in his chest slightly upon seeing the smile on Johnny's face. "Please tell me your wearing that stupid smile of yours for a reason." Greg pleaded.  
  
"It's not stupid and yes I am wearing it for a reason. The scream doesn't belong to Catherine. I used the new comparative system on my computer to test it against the answer machine message she left on your cell ages ago. and there's no match. Which means."  
  
"Which means Catherine is still alive and well. we hope." Greg bent down and grabbed the results sheet the younger man was offering him and kissed his forehead lightly. Instantly regretting his actions in the face of excitement he decided to get out of the lab before he asked the man out on a date. Grabbing his cell from his pocket he dialled Sara's number and waited expectantly for her to answer. As soon as she did he let the news tumble out in a disorganised fashion and cut the usual theatrics he gave results with. Suddenly he felt he was the case breaker and he relished the sensational feeling he felt in the pit of his stomach.  
  
Finally finishing the excited phone call he made his way once more back to his lab. Gulping down the rest of the lukewarm liquid he had remaining in the polystyrene cup, he heard a phone ringing somewhere. Grissom's office he bet and raced down the corridor to get to it in time. Picking it up he gasped for air and resolved to go to the gym more after this case was finished.  
  
"Mr. Grissom's office?"  
  
"Hello this is Ted Bentley from the Houston Police department. I'm responding to a notice for a missing persons report. We've had a young girl missing for 3 weeks now and she seems the most likely candidate. If you could send me a DNA sample from the blood you found in the car we can match it in our CSI lab down here and give you the results ASAP."  
  
"That's great. I'll post it via airmail it should hopefully reach you by the morning."  
  
"Thank you Mr......"  
  
"Sanders, Greg Sanders. It's my pleasure anything that can help crack this case we'll be extremely grateful for."  
  
"I'll be in touch Mr. Sanders." With that the phone went dead and Greg shook his head to wake himself up. He had an urgent job to do and for once it was nice to be the one to do it.  
  
*~*  
  
"There you are Mr. Grissom. You'll need to take things easy for a couple of days and make sure you take the painkillers I've prescribed. Now if you'll accompany me this way I'll take you all to Lindsay's room." Walking along the corridors and entering the children's ward the doctor continued his polite conversation. "You'll all be glad to hear that she's responded extremely well to the medication and she'll be ready to go home in a couple of days time, Hopefully." Finally stopping outside a small room the doctor motioned for Warrick, Grissom and Brass to enter. They opened the door and entered the room in single file, Grissom at the head of the line. Lindsay was asleep and curled up into the foetal position hugging the pillow. Grissom reached out his hand to stroke the young girls hair and she awoke with a start.  
  
Staring wide-eyed at Grissom she finally recognised him and her bottom lip began to quiver, her eyes flooding over with sadness. Reaching out for each other simultaneously, Lindsay burst into full-blown sobs. Between sobs she murmured, "I want my mommy," and Grissom's heart broke into a thousand separate pieces when he thought about how he had to be the one to tell her that her mom wasn't going to be around anymore. At that precise moment Sara burst into the room, a smile lighting up her beautiful face.  
  
"She isn't." Grissom started.  
  
"No she isn't but I'll fill you in later. We need to cheer up a little girl right now." With her last remark she pulled out a toy rabbit and some chocolate form behind her back and handed them over to Lindsay. A smile momentarily stopped the child's tears and she broke off her embrace form Grissom to only go and envelop Sara in one.  
  
An hour flew past and the doctor came in to tell them visiting time was officially over and the gang all filed out of the hospital room. Looking around Sara's face suddenly transformed from happiness to confusion. Spotting the alteration Grissom asked her what was wrong.  
  
"Where's Nick?"  
  
"I don't know. He was with us in the waiting room. Maybe he stayed there instead of coming in to see Lindsay." Grissom shrugged knowing how stupid this excuse sounded and hoped that Nick turned up because it was starting to make all of them feel anxious. Pacing the floor, Sara held her cell phone to her ear and listened to the incessant ringing on the other end. Why aren't you picking up? She thought. Suddenly the waiting room doors flung open and Nick's face popped around the door.  
  
"Where'd you go?" Sara asked more harshly then she'd intended.  
  
"I went to the chapel. A little praying goes a long way."  
  
Sara smiled at the handsome Texan and offered her arms to him. He accepted her invitation and fell into her arms. "I want to find Cath. I miss her."  
  
"We all do, Nick. We all do." Breaking from their embrace and letting their hands fall together. Brass and Warrick joined them seconds after but Grissom didn't show up.  
  
"Come on this is getting beyond a joke now. We find one and then we lose another," Warrick joked trying to keep the conversation light.  
  
"You haven't lost me," Grissom replied from behind him. "I have just had a rather bright idea." Smiling at the team he motioned for them to move out of the waiting room.  
  
"Well what is it?" Nick enquired.  
  
"The sooner we get back to the lab the better."  
  
"You're not answering my question." Nick persisted.  
  
"Ok I'll give you a big clue. Who wasted my time the night Catherine went missing? And now who's suspiciously disappeared?"  
  
Each member of the team looked confused at each other and then returned their gaze to Grissom. Then suddenly the penny dropped for Warrick who replied, "The babysitter." Finally they all realised how stupid they'd been to overlook her role in this all and practically ran out of the waiting room to the car park. Jumping in the SUV Brass put pedal to the metal and got them back to the lab in record time. The SUV barely stopped, Grissom jumped out and Nick, Warrick, Sara and Brass marvelled as they saw Grissom move the fastest they'd ever seen him go. They followed suit and made their way after their supervisor.  
  
*~*  
  
Back in the lab Greg was hard at work once again and had just finished the airmail package when Grissom burst into his room out of breath.  
  
"Well this is a role reversal." The young man teased.  
  
"Check....... Out ...........the ...........babysitter...."  
  
"Ok. what's her name? And Why?"  
  
"Jennie McCormack. And never mind the why." Grissom retorted regaining some of his breath.  
  
Greg typed in the information into his computer and pressed the return button. Spinning back around on his office chair he turned to face the red faced Grissom. "Ok tell me why now?"  
  
"Ok. She was the person who wasted my time the night Catherine went missing. She rang Catherine and made sure that she made her way home saying that Lindsay was ill. I don't think she ever banked on the fact that she was actually sick. Then when I came around she made sure she had at least 20 minutes of my time before she disappeared. I then rang her mobile at the hospital when the thought occurred to me that she might have been involved and surprise surprise her mobile is 'not connected'. If that's not suspicious. what is?"  
  
"True." Greg said simply. They were interrupted by a beeping noise signalling the computer had found a match. "Oh dear dear dear Jennie."  
  
"What?" Grissom asked inquisitively.  
  
"Well nothing serious but she's got several minor charges as well..... a minor."  
  
"For what?"  
  
"She shoplifted, held on suspicion of possession of drugs that kind of thing."  
  
"We find her, we find Eddie, We find Catherine." Greg followed this train of thought and then remembered the conversation he'd had earlier with Ted Bentley.  
  
"I had a phone call earlier from a Ted Bentley. from the Houston Police department. I think he may have a match to the blood we found in Catherine's car." Not being able to finish his sentence Brass burst into the room. "Come on in don't bother to knock." Greg said sarcastically.  
  
Ignoring the younger man Brass turned to Grissom, "A body's been found 5 miles from where the SUV was found. It's been bled dry."  
  
"Then that's our vic." Grissom said. "Lets hope she's the only one. Get Sara in here she owes me some news."  
  
"I can fill you in on that."  
  
"How can you fill me in on that Greg?"  
  
"Well I was the one who had the idea when you passed out on the floor." Greg smiled smugly at the older man. "You so underestimate me Grissom."  
  
"Maybe. Just for goodness sake tell me."  
  
Quickly filling Grissom in on the developments and telling him about how the idea came about Greg watched in amazement at how Grissom's face became flabbergasted at the young man's ingenuity.  
  
"Your talents are wasted on the trace lab Gregory." Greg scowled at the older man.  
  
"It's GREG."  
  
"I know I just had to burst your ego somehow." Grissom smiled at him and then got up to leave the room. "I'm going to go see the body out on the strip. Good work Greg."  
  
The young lab tech glowed from the inside out and smiled like a maniac at his supervisor. Grissom had never really given him appraisal for anything and now he was heaping it on. He just hoped his efforts were good enough to help find Catherine.  
TBC. 


	6. Bled dry

Once Again I'm really sorry that this chapter has taken so long. GCSE work had finally taken its toll! However here I am with a bit of a twist in the story. enjoy. As always, all feedback is welcome.  
  
Chapter 6.  
  
The drive out to the strip seemed long and arduous to Grissom tonight. Even with Brass and Sara for company, he much preferred the ride in silence and made sure this was the case by even switching the radio off. Sara could see it in Grissom's eyes how badly this was affecting him. He loved to crack cases, he loved the thrill of knowing something everyone else didn't and suddenly everyone was getting in on the act, even Greg. It sounded selfish but you don't get to be as good as Grissom without being selfish, Sara thought to herself.  
  
She also knew how Grissom felt about Catherine. That was another feeling that was given away in his azure eyes. Even when Grissom looked at Lindsay, The love radiated from every pore on his body. He couldn't help himself, and she knew that it was much more than wanting to find Catherine it was needing to, because if Grissom didn't find her and someone else did or no one did at all, Grissom had failed and above all of that, his life just wouldn't be worth living. His job was arguably 49% of his life but the other 51% had always remained a mystery. Until now.  
  
Eventually the familiar blue and red flashing lights drew the SUV to them and the investigation began. Gingerly Grissom stepped out of the vehicle swiftly followed by Sara and followed Mobley over to the vic.  
  
"Hey there Sara, Grissom." Mobley nodded at the CSI's respectively. "I hope you've got strong stomachs for this one, I say one, there isn't much of them left." Mobley nodded towards the yellow police tape that had been assembled around the vic and left the CSI's to their own devices.  
  
"I suppose it's up to us then." Sara smiled weakly at Grissom who smiled back at her. "Come on Grissom, let's get through this and guaranteed we'll get to Catherine before you know it." She knew she was trying to make the both of them feel better and so did he so he tapped her shoulder lightly and pulled her into a hug.  
  
"I hope you're right." Shocked by his informal embrace Sara noticed Grissom's eyes glistening slightly in the moonlight. Acknowledging that this would be strictly forbidden to mention she carried on towards the vic and Grissom followed her lead.  
  
Shortly after the two CSI's had started to process the vic and the crime scene, Brass came over to them. "You're not going to believe this, not in a million years." Brass was furious and Sara could imagine steam coming out of the older man's ears.  
  
"What?" Sara asked.  
  
"Your vic I mean it's just. its beyond sick. it's psychopathic."  
  
"Whoa Brass calm down, What's happened?" Sara asked getting anxious.  
  
"Meet your vic, Catherine Willows." Sara suddenly recoiled in horror at the fact she'd been looking at her friend her. until her train of thought was interrupted. "No not our Catherine. Catherine Willows from Houston. The cop that called earlier, Ted Bentley, just rang Greg again. He forgot to tell us the suspected vic's name. Greg just called me to tell me the news. Apparently, Catherine babysat for a Mr. Eddie Willows."  
  
"But hang on what did she baby-sit? Thin air?" Sara enquired.  
  
"No Eddie has another kid with a woman by the name of Angela Williams. They've lived together for just over a year. The kid's called Josh, 18 months old."  
  
"So Eddie got out of prison, moved out of state, knocked someone up and shacked up with them? That's what you're telling me?" Grissom had started to shake with the same fury as Brass had displayed at the start of the conversation.  
  
"Whoa the both of you calm down." Sara stated trying to think. "We need to piece this together and make it relevant to Catherine."  
  
"Which Catherine? As of now we have one victim, one possible and we have nowhere to start from." Grissom argued.  
  
A moment's silence followed and then Brass' cell began to ring again. "Oh for a time when these things didn't ring incessantly!" Brass exclaimed exasperated.  
  
"Brass." A long pause followed until eventually. "Good work boys. Follow it up and get back to us ASAP." Hanging up his cell phone Brass tucked it back onto his belt loop and faced the CSI's once again.  
  
"Nick and Warrick have just had a break through. The strange substance found in the bottom of Catherine's car that you all passed off as sand, actually turned out to be a rare sandstone that is manufactured for commercial use in only 3 places in Las Vegas. Now the boys figured that Eddie checked his location before going back to get Catherine. They also found out from the Houston department's initial enquires that a few of the girl's school friends said that she was infatuated with Eddie and he promised to take her away which eliminates the odd question of how she got from Houston to Las Vegas. And before you ask yes they got the tip off before you." Brass finished his long speech with a resolute sigh and smiled at the two friends in front of him. "The boys also narrowed it down to one factory and it's about 20 miles from here. So Nick and Warrick are on their way there with some uniforms and they are sending some day shift's to cover this vic. Jump in the SUV and we can make our way there."  
  
Looking at each other briefly, Sara and Grissom decided via eye contact that this was it. No hesitations could happen. They needed to find Catherine at all costs and racing over to the SUV they began the journey there. Following Grissom's directions from his map reading skills it took less time than they imagined and they found the location within 40 minutes.  
  
Pulling up to the factory they noticed the immense amount of space that they would have to cover to find Catherine, if she was indeed here. The building was obviously abandoned and derelict and as judging the safety of the building was not an option, Grissom took charge.  
  
"Sara you take the back with Brass and I'll go from the front, You've both got cells if you get into trouble call me."  
  
"Grissom we can't do this,' Brass whispered. "We need back up, more men. We could all end up dead."  
  
Not taking any notice of his words Grissom began his way around to the front of the building. After hoarse whispering in vain after Grissom, Sara realised the sudden rush of adrenaline through her veins and started to run around to the back of the building.  
  
"Am I the only one to see sense here?" Brass whispered after Sara but then followed her.  
  
Opening the rusty metal door as quietly as possible Brass stepped inside trying to accustom his eyes to the darkness. Squinting in the darkness eventually he became used to his surroundings and began to progress through the building, Sara close behind him. Not looking in the darkness, Sara bumped into Brass who had stopped in the middle of a dark corridor, which looked connected to either the factory floor or some offices. Raising a finger to his lips he motioned for the younger CSI to be quiet.  
  
"Can you hear that?" He whispered.  
  
"Yeah, Raised voices."  
  
"Let's follow them." Proceeding into the darkness they had no idea what they were about to get themselves into.  
  
~*~  
  
Having long adjusted to the darkness Grissom found himself making quick progress through the building, he'd made his way up from the factory floor and had identified the rooms upstairs to be what he presumed were offices. He paused in the darkness as he heard something. He momentarily stopped breathing to hear better, and identified the noise to be raised voices, he just hoped that one was that of Catherine, fighting back.  
  
~*~  
  
"What the hell are you talking about Jennie?"  
  
"Don't shout at me Eddie," The 17 year old warned. "I can call the cops and the only thing you'd be seeing was the lethal injection."  
  
Grabbing his gun from its place at the back of his trousers, he held it with two hands out in front of him with effortless grip but menacing intent. "Don't you dare threaten me otherwise I'll kill you, trust me I have no qualms about leaving you here to die with that wench," he spat out in the direction of Catherine. "You fell for me just like that other babysitter in Houston." His face contorted into a grim look as he began to speak about the babysitter. "Don't look so shocked Jennie, you're not the first and you definitely won't be the last of the bimbo's to throw themselves at me."  
  
"But you said you loved ."  
  
"I don't love anyone!!" he shouted raising his voice even further than before. "You think I care about you? I just needed you to get to Catherine. Do you really think I'd be that desperate?"  
  
The girl broke into sobs and Eddie moved closer to her. Stroking her face lightly with one hand he kept the gun positioned on her flat, slim stomach.  
  
"Please Eddie," she begged.  
  
"I'm sorry." Letting the empty words fall selfishly from his mouth he pulled the trigger and walked away from the screaming girl. Her face red, her eyes streaming with tears, her face displayed a look of pure terror. Lifting a hand to see the blood that had deposited there she looked up at Eddie. Smirking at his latest victim he watched as she squirmed around on the floor. "Eddie, Help me." she managed to croak. Then looking at him once again with the look of death in her eyes, her head fell to the floor and her eyes rolled back into her head.  
  
He hated that. Eddie hated to see the look on his victim's faces when they knew they were going to die. He wanted it that way; he wanted them to meet their maker so why did they insist on asking him for help after he'd just shot them? It just wasn't logical. Cool, calm and collected he made his way over to his ex-wife who still lay on the floor.  
  
"Catherine, it's such a waste. Me and you could have got back together and watched as Lindsay grew up. But you've just ruined it all now. I wrote to you whilst I was in prison and you never replied. I knew you were with Grissom. I knew you were with him when we were still together." Stopping for a moment, he leant down and positioned himself just over Catherine's lips. Bending in even further to kiss them, he thought he felt movement below him. Resting still next to Catherine for a moment he realised that this was probably just a figment of his imagination and once again leaned in for a kiss. He closed his eyes and let his lips touch hers. He savoured the feeling of being so close to her and remembered all the things he'd loved about her. The way she'd smelt, the way.  
  
CRACK.  
  
Eddie fell back onto the floor in shock, anger and pain, whereas Catherine fell back screaming as the pain in her head began to make her nauseous once more. "Take that." She spat at him.  
  
"You head butted me! You Bitch!"  
  
"And I would do it again in a second." She looked at him with a frosty look in her eyes and Eddie recoiled when he saw the look of pure hatred in her eyes. For him.  
  
"You hate me don't you?" He asked her.  
  
"I don't just hate you Eddie, I despise you, I loathe you, and I wish I'd never met you."  
  
"Now stop there Catherine, we can't have you regretting the times we've had. I'd rather be dead than that."  
  
"Well be my guest." She retorted.  
  
"I will." Reaching once more for his gun that had been replaced in it's spot at the small of his back, he brought out in front of him and placed his finger over the trigger. "Goodbye Catherine, I love you." Taking his eyes away from her for a split second he didn't notice the brief shadow from underneath the door on the far side of the room. Just as he was about to release the trigger the door flew open and in a rush of confusion and anger Eddie forgot what he was about to do.  
  
"Drop the gun Eddie."  
  
"Grissom, How nice of you to join us, at last. You have been slow figuring this out old boy I have to admit." Eddie relished the chance of torturing and tormenting Grissom mentally. However Grissom was having none of it and retorted with,  
  
"I'm surprised you're so fit and healthy Eddie. A man in your condition shouldn't be doing these things." Grissom smirked at the man as he held out his gun in front, it seemed like an industrial western with the baddy and the good guy squaring up for action.  
  
"How did you find out?" Eddie remarked in a mix of horror and humiliation.  
  
"It was obvious. I know you Eddie. You're a very patient kind of guy. You could have waited a couple more years before you came to get Catherine but then I thought to myself why? Why now? When I was visiting Lindsay in the hospital I asked a friend of mine to check up on some records for me. An Eddie Willows was registered but with no forwarding address. However he was listed as a terminally ill cancer patient. So spill it Eddie. The game's up. Give it up, you're not going to get away with it."  
  
Eddie could see the pure venom in Grissom's eyes and suddenly felt 2 times smaller than he actually was.  
  
"You had no right Gil."  
  
"I had no Right!! What are you Deluded? You've kidnapped and attempted murdered my colleague."  
  
"Oh for once admit it!" Eddie spat out losing his cool. "You've loved her ever since you first saw her. You're probably shacked up with her now. I mean you were seeing her when we were still married!!"  
  
"No we weren't you just let yourself get into a jealous rage, as per usual." Grissom exploded. "You treated her like dirt, you had no right to even be with someone like her." Looking down at her for the first time since he'd entered the room, Grissom noticed that Catherine had passed out. Her head was bleeding and her hair was matted unflatteringly around her beautiful face. He was so engrossed with the state that Catherine as in that he didn't notice Eddie grasp his gun tighter and pull the trigger.  
  
The bang sounded so far away and yet the searing white-hot pain of the bullet in his left thigh gave it away. He knew he wasn't going to die, well yet anyway. Seeing blackness engulf him, Grissom knew Eddie was probably about to hover over him for the final shot.  
  
Closing his eyes, he waited for the pain once again and listened as a gun prepared to fire. The safety catch was flicked off and Grissom could sense Eddie's grip getting tighter. "I love you Catherine." He whispered and let go. He'd said everything he'd ever wanted to say. Now he was at Eddie's mercy and he didn't care what he did. Grissom said a quick, silent prayer and waited for the shot to come.  
  
Bang.  
  
TBC. review please. 


End file.
